Q&A with Jon Silva

Jon Silva. To anyone who has been in the electronic music scene for any length of time knows, that when you’ve been around for as long as Jon has, you are practically ancient. Jon has helped shape the scene both via his productions and his long established label Pesto. We have been honored to have gotten to work with him twice now. His remix of the Moti Brothers “Hermit” was a classy old school house affair and we look forward to the day we get him back on board with another remix. In the meantime he recently provided for us a track from his label Pesto for our “Deep House United” compilation.

Q. Name and Favorite flavour of ice-cream?A. Ugh, tough one to begin with. Well, I really like Häagen Dazs’s Cookies & Cream but won’t refrain from other sorts of ice cream. I really loved the Magnum one with coconut ice cream, covered in bitter chocolate. But to be honest, nothing beats a hand made ice cream by an italian master. Did I already say I love ice cream?

Q. How long have you been making music?A. Started at the age of 15 with an Amiga 500 and a portable keyboard. First release was in 1996.

Q. How long have you been running your label and what made you decide to start it up?A. Well, I got the domain in 2001 and put out the first vinyl on Pesto in 2002. I did not want to be dependent on other A&Rs so running a label of my own was just the logical next step.

Q. Is it more rewarding to run “label name” or produce music?A. Haha, these days, neither is really. But in the end, I guess I’d say making music holds much more fun than running a label with all the administrative tasks that come along with doing so.

Q. Favorite Genre of music outside of what you produce?A. I listen to a lot of Drum & Bass, LTJ Bukem style but I also really enjoy 90ies/2000s Black Music and Rap like A Tribe Called Quest, Dr. Dre and the likes. And yeah, I dig the old Destiny’s Child shit, I’ll admit it. Other than that, I really love obscure Disco stuff, mostly Philly style with nice strings sections.

Q. Must have piece of production software or equipment?A. A decent room with an inspiring atmosphere and proper acoustics.

Q. What program do you use to Produce?A. Logic on a Mac. Since version 2.0.

Q. Favorite Social Media site for spreading the word about music?A. Probably Facebook although I cannot really say I like the site.

Q. What is the question you wished people would ask you?A. Why aren’t you making any music at the moment and when can we expect new stuff both from Jon Silva as well as new releases on Pesto?

Note: Ya Jon, really now… where’s all the music? I hear it will be sometime this year at least…

Q. What are your favorite labels and or producers?A. There’s way too many! But I really enjoyed Naked Music back in the days as well as Good Lookin or older Matthew Herbert stuff. These days, I do not pay too much attention to labels to be honest but rather like a tune or don’t, regardless of who did it or where it was released.

Q. How often do you end up telling your computer off while working?A. Rarely. I’m more of a gently-petting-the-computer kind of guy.

Q. What do you get up to outside of music?A. Earning money to run the label. Hahaha.

Q. Whats your favorite animal?A. I like animals in general, but our cat has to be my favourite. He even has his own Facebook page! Hiya PipuMann!